News information revealed that the Alaska Marine Conservation Council declared that the photos were taken by crew on an undisclosed trawl vessel operating off Kodiak Island last summer. The photos reveal a level of wasteful bycatch considerably higher than what has been reported to fishery managers through the standard catch monitoring system.
For five years Kodiak Island fishermen and Alaska Marine Conservation Council have submitted proposals to the federal fishery body to reduce tanner crab bycatch and protect seafloor habitat. aid Alexus Kwachka, a Kodiak fisherman who delivered the photos to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, said that these pictures are truly worth a thousand words. They demonstrate a problem more clearly than the statistical analysis that has so far masked a significant problem.
Kwachka also said that the main aim is to protect the crab that supports our local small boat fishery. According to the news report the federal fishery managers voted Oct. 6 to evaluate a range of potential management measures including expanding no-trawl zones to exclude bottom trawl operations from areas of biological importance to tanner crab.
Theresa Peterson, Kodiak fisherman and Alaska Marine Conservation Council coordinator, opined that they appreciate the decision to pursue new conservation measures. The tanner crab fishery is important for the diversified local fishing fleet on Kodiak Island and so it’s important to consider the amount of bycatch as well as the seafloor habitat that crab and other species need to thrive.
